Upcoming Events

This time of year, I receive lots of emails from people asking me for tips on what to do in London over the christmas / new year period.

Here's a website which might be of use. It's called Upcoming.

Simply go to it and search for London, England (under "where?").

London's winter fair

This weekend, the annual Bankside Frost Fair is happening down alongside the Thames near Shakespeare's Globe. 400 years since it was first held, its really worth checking out and of course its free.

Its been running for the past 5 years and seems to get busier every year. Last year they had reindeers for the kids - wonder what the special attraction will be this year.

here's more about it

Great museum - shame it isn't free

It was great to see that the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden has finally re-opened.

I remember visiting it many years ago and if its as good now as it was back then, its definitely a great day out especially if you have kids, big or small.

Unfortunately, its £8 for adults to enter, though kids are free.

Most of London's other major museums are free (Museum of London, British Museum and so on), though some do invite entry fee "donations". Its a shame that they all aren't.

But I'll probably try to make time to visit the new-look Transport Museum anyway as it does look quite good.

Bunhill Fields

I only discovered this wonderful place earlier this year when my new job took me to a different part of London.

And what a great find it is.

Part old burial ground dating back to Saxon times (though most of the remaining graves are from the mid 1700's onwards), it sits nestled behind some busy roads and tall buildings at the northern end of the City and is a lovely place to relax and enjoy your lunchbreak.

And of course its all free to enter.

Famous people buried in the graveyard include the nonconformists, William Blake, John Bunyan and Daniel Defoe.

Find out more about Bunhill Fields on the City of London's website.

Certainly worth a visit if you are in the area and looking for somewhere quiet to relax.

A scooter commuter

Earlier this year I changed jobs.

And so, dreading the prospect of travelling for at least an hour each way by bus to my new offices, I had to find another way of making the daily commute to work. Arise, the trusty scooter.

Now I have to say that before this year, I had never so much as ridden passenger on a motorbike for over twenty years. And I had never actually ridden one alone - not even on a dusty track in the middle of nowhere.

So the thought of riding through London's rush hour traffic on a tiny scooter, amongst the buses, cyclists and trucks, was a tad nervewracking. However, in line with the age old philosophy of JFDI, I set out to give it a go.

The first thing I did was to check out whether I could legally ride one on the roads without having to have a test, given I have a car licence. And the answer was YES, provided it was a scooter of up to 50cc. There's more info on direct.gov.uk about the rules (and beware, apparently they are due to change in Oct next year.)

The next step was to buy the bike and gear. I discovered loads of places on the web, here are a few I have used.

Towerscooters where I bought my very low mileage, less than a year old piaggio for under £1000, complete with helmet and gloves. A nice family run business.

Hein Gericke I use the branch in Stockwell. They stock lots of bike clothing and gear that is well suited to scooter riders

Metropolis a good scooter shop in south London

City Bike Service great place for getting your bike serviced while you are at work, especially if you work in the city or east end.

The final bit was the trickiest - getting on and riding it. To build confidence, I did two things. I checked out the best route to take to and from work and then I practised the journey on a Sunday morning, when the Elephant and Castle roundabout was nice and quiet.

And then for about a fortnight, I rode the scooter like a car. ie. I joined and followed the line of traffic and avoided overtaking.

And now, 5 months later, I feel like a fully fledged scooter commuter, ducking in and out of traffic, zooming to the front of queues and getting to work in under 20 minutes. Brilliant!

An eventful 8 months in London

Yes, its been a long time between blog posts. But like the red cups, I'm back.

So much has changed in my life in London since I last wrote: I've started a new job with a new employer, I've taken to riding a scooter to and from work and I've become involved in setting up a Tenants and Residents Association in my local neighbourhood.

Which gives me lots of new things to write about - riding through London traffic, the highs and lows of neighbourhood politics, the area around where I now work and so on.

Throughout it all, LondonForFree has kept ticking along. And now it will have its blog back.

I hope you'll enjoy the new set of posts over the coming months.

An adventure in an NHS hospital

Hearing the usual reports in the press again about how underpaid nursing staff are and how overspent hospitals are - with huge amounts being wasted on IT projects - I thought I'd write about my adventure as an emergency patient at Kings College Hospital a few years ago.

My saga started when my doctor phoned me (yes, an NHS doctor phoned me at home) on the eve of my trip back to Sydney. She was insistent that I get myself to casualty as soon as possible. There goes the trip home for xmas, oh well.

So, eventually I got there with my partner and set myself up for a long wait. But within a few minutes, I was taken into the casualty department for assessment. (Maybe its because a friend, a department sister at Kings, intervened on my behalf and explained just how serious it was.)

And then the fun started! Firstly, the doctor had problems trying to get one of the machines to work. Until my friend suggested he plug it in - so, I guess he was no bright spark.

That bit sorted, he proceeded to test my blood pressure. Except that he fell asleep at the end of the bed. It must have been a long shift for him.

He woke up, rambled something then disappeared, leaving me and my friends sitting there. Well, me laying on the bed. Another nurse came in and asked if I could move out of the room so they could bring another patient in - a short word from my sister friend soon sorted her out.

Eventually, they decided to admit me for emergency treatment. Time for a change in friend shifts. VSO friend arrived just as I was being taken into a holding ward, where we sat and laughed as an old lady patient came along unattended, sat on the end of my bed and proceeded to wet it. Well you had to laugh or you'd cry. So we did.

The next morning, sister friend returned with food. I hadn't eaten for around 12 hours, since being admitted, and I was starving. No, I wasn't Nil by Mouth - just Nil by Catering, I guess.

It was around 16 hours between arriving in casualty and being admitted to a ward. So that's what they mean by bed shortages. And the ward was true Victoriana - from the holes in the walls to the ancient beds. Amazing. Thankfully, that ward has now been closed down.

But you know, every one of the nursing staff I was in contact with during my 3 days on the ward was brilliant. From the ward sister to the catering staff. Working in a fairly appalling environment didn't get to them at all. They actually made my experience interesting and even enjoyable. Sad, I know. But they were all so warm and cheerful.

I got into trouble for trying to help myself to coffee, and had to be careful as I negotiated with another patient to sneak out of the ward and buy me a phone card, and while trying to use my mobile phone. No, it wasn't a prison ward - for those who are wondering.

Eventually, a consultant came to see me. I happened to ask him how private health cover works as I had it through work. Suddenly I was surrounded by doctors and the next thing I know, I had all the drugs I needed and was discharged. Shame to end my adventure but at least I then made it back to Oz for xmas.

My subsequent visit to a private hospital for treatment wasn't half as memorable. Quite boring, in fact.....

So a big thanks to all the staff at Kings College Hospital, especially those whose names I never caught but whose kindness I won't forget.

London pubs

This week is Community Pubs Week in London.

Now, I love London pubs. They come in all shapes and sizes.

There are the big "converted from a bank" trendy types where there are loads of different designer beers on tap but you'd struggle for a pint of Carling, the "tiny place on the corner" drunk old man types where Carling is one of the only beers left on tap and people sit staring into their glasses and the basic "locals" where everyone knows the publican and everyone drinks Stella anyway.

Where I live, I am blessed by having a variety of pubs to choose from. I can count 10 within walking distance. Some where the food is great, some where the beer is better and some where they just get everything right (or wrong.)

I hope none of them close down - community pubs gets my vote anyday!

Its not just on Big Brother

You'd have to have been living under a rock for the past week not to have heard about Big Brother and all the racist stuff going on.

Now frankly, I detest the program and rarely watch it (and only do to remind myself how awful it is) but I'm actually surprised it has taken so long for something like this to have happened on it.

After all, they've already had blatant sexism (John McCridick a few series' ago), bizarre politicians (George Gallaway behaving like a cat) and lots of sexual stuff happening, I think some pre watershed. Racism was surely only a matter of time.

But the real issue, I think, is that it has reminded people of the fact that racism is still quite clearly a big issue in London. Jade is sadly not alone in her thinking or behaviour.

Last night I went to the local pub with a friend. Fairly crowded, a good mix of people. And into the bar walks some nutter (yes, he was a nutter). Ranting and raving at the top of his voice about doomsday, 1996 (god knows why) and then coming out with lots of highly offensive racist comments. The landlord, who happens to be black, politely ushered him out.

And the bar went silent for a few moments. I wonder if other customers were thinking the same thoughts as us - racist pig, sadly typical, and all too common.

Racism doesn't just happen in Big Brother - I see it on buses, in shops and in my workplace - even though my employer prides itself on being "diversity friendly". Some is verbal, a lot is non-verbal (body language, etc) and some is fairly subtle but its all still there.

(On my way to work, I have to pass the office of one of the merchant banks that paid out billions in bonuses to high flying city boys. Guess what colour all its doormen are. I wonder how many black people they have on their trading floors........... )

Those people who think London has tackled racism are sadly very deluded. Its out there still, alive and well.